Monday, the 1st Day of Our Sweden Trip (by Johannes Fischhofer)
Our great trip to Sweden started very early on Monday morning. We met with Mr. Kugler at half past three in the morning in front of the school. Everyone was still tired because of this early meet, accompanied by classical music we drove to Mürzzuschlag to pick up Mrs. Kainz. When the sun was rising, we were already near Vienna, at five in the morning we arrived at the airport.
Just an hour later the whole group sat in the bus, that brought us to the plane to Stockholm. For some people of our group, it was the first time to fly with a plane, so they were very excited! But flying is always exciting, for everyone, even if they already flew with a plane. Because of the great weather we had a nice view onto Stockholm from above. At eight in the morning, we landed at the airport near Stockholm.
But Stockholm was not the end of our adventure, we had to change the plane to go on to Lulea. This time the plane was a bit smaller, we flew about an hour to the airport of Lulea. There we picked up our rental car and inspected it for damages, that we didn’t cause. Because everyone was hungry, we drove into the city of Lulea.
When we met all again after lunchtime at the car, we drove a few kilometers to Gammelstad, a well-known historic city. There we went into the church, where we met a nice woman that told us stories about the village and the church.
After that, we went on to drive to our hotel in Kalix, which was about 80 kilometers away from Lulea. When we arrived there an hour later, we met two teachers of the forestry school of Kalix. After a bit of sleep, we explored the area and searched for a supermarket, to get something to eat.
At nine in the evening, we met with Alexander, a teacher of the Swedish school, and drove twenty minutes to his forest. There we hiked up on a small hill for around an hour. It took us quite long, because we had so many questions about the forest and the hunting to ask. When the sun had nearly set, we reached the top of this “mountain” and made some pictures together, from up there we had a great view onto the bay of Kalix.
At eleven p.m. we we were back at the hotel and were very glad to go to bed.
Tuesday, the 2nd Day of Our Sweden Trip (by Katrin Schreiber)
Today we met at 8:00 a.m. at the Naturbruks-Gymnasium. We went into the forest with a group of students who were currently practicing for their chainsaw “driving license.” We were able to watch a tree being felled. In Sweden, the notch cut starts with the top cut, which should have an angle of at least 75 degrees. Also, they do not use a breaking bar; the rest of the felling process is done similarly to how it’s done in Austria.
After that, we learned everything about tree planting. We had many exciting conversations with the teachers.
The soil here is pure podsol with a moss layer, so the ground must be prepared before a tree can be planted.
In the afternoon, we went to an event organized by the company Norra Skog. They had a harvester on display there. We had many interesting conversations with the people from the company. They showed us their software for the harvester, where every single tree that has been felled is recorded. We also got free coffee and hamburgers.
Wednesday, the 3rd Day of Our Sweden Trip (by Emily Gratzer)
Unfortunately, the weather was not so nice on the third day, but we did get an insight into the Swedish school system. First of all, we looked at the various classrooms, the school’s saw mill and how it works, the building unit and, above all, the forwarder simulators, which we were also allowed to drive. We were also given an insight into the school café where we were warmly welcomed and given muffins, coffee and tea. We heard a lot about the school, the social life and also about the area, such as typical Swedish food. We spent the afternoon in the café where we listened to very interesting stories and then discussed the day ahead.
Thursday, the 4th Day of Our Sweden Trip (by Lisa Flatzelsteiner)
At 9:00 am we drove to the Naturbruks-Gymnasium in Kalix again. Once there, we were told that we were going to drive 1.5 hours to Overkalix to visit a Same (Swedish aborigine) who owns reindeer. When we arrived at the Same's home, the native welcomed us, told us about his reindeer, showed us antlers of 7-8-year-old reindeer and, among other things, eagle claws. He also showed us traps for forest birds. They also have to contend with predators on reindeer farms (bear, wolf, lynx, eagle, honey badger). We had lunch at a world-famous stop where we ate Swedish home cooking. After lunch we drove to a “mountain” 188 meters above sea level, where we had a very nice view over Sweden and Finland. Afterwards we visited one of the last dairy farmers, who also produces mustard and rapeseed oil.
Friday, the 5th Day of Our Sweden Trip (by David Pichorner and Thomas Moser)
On Friday, the fifth day of our Sweden trip, we once again started early. We headed a bit further north with two of the school’s buses and our rental car to go rafting on the Kalix River using a larger boat and two rather wobbly kayaks. With a pleasant outside temperature of 10°C and a water temperature of 6°C, we suited up in proper gear and braved the wild waters. And since that wasn’t enough of a cool-down for some of us, our boys jumped back into the water—with more or less clothing on.
Afterward, the teachers from our partner school had already prepared a delicious lunch for us, which we enjoyed by the campfire. Then, it was time to say goodbye. We bid farewell to our outstanding hosts and left a little something behind as a gift in Sweden.
Our Scandinavian adventure continued with a 2.5-hour drive to Rovaniemi, Finland, where our first stop was visiting Santa Claus in his own hometown. Unsurprisingly, we were instantly filled with Christmas spirit—even in May. To see more of Rovaniemi itself, we headed into the city to visit a technical museum, but unfortunately, it was closed. So, we went straight to the city center to find a nice restaurant for dinner. After eating, we strolled around town a bit before deciding to head back.
By 10:00 PM, we had returned to our accommodation and held our usual evening gathering in the hotel lobby. Over coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, we chatted about everything under the sun. And so, the second-to-last day came to an end.
Saturday, the 6th Day of Our Sweden Trip (by Gregor Müller)
On the last day of our trip to Sweden, we visited the city of Luleå. There, we explored the technical museum. This museum explains all the important economic sectors of the region, from forestry to mining. One of the highlights was the fully functional model of a paper mill, where we were able to experience all the steps of paper production up close. After that, we made our way to the airport. Our flight departed from Luleå at 5:15 PM, and we landed in Stockholm at 6:30 PM. The connecting flight to Vienna took off at 8:00 PM. It landed in Vienna at 10:10 PM, and the only thing left on the schedule was the drive back to school.
We really want to thank the staff of our partner school in Kalix for their enthusiasm. They made this trip very special by guiding us through the region and showing us all the highlights Norbotten has to offer! We are looking forward to welcoming them back to Bruck, when they will visit again with a group of students next school year!